Dunkan's Story

Dunkan started his life badly; he was abandoned at about 2 days old, in an old bin bag with his dead litter mates.  He was brought into the Vetinary Surgery where I am a nurse and I took him home to hand rear.  He was handled by dozens of different people young and old every day.  He also met some dogs and other cats which didn’t bother him at all and it helped him to become more socialised. I had heard of Pets As Therapy and thought at this time that Dunkan would be perfect for this type of work.

He has been in quite a few Cat Shows over the last five years and he especially loves it when he comes home with rosettes and trophies, as he always looks so proud.  The icing on the cake came in November 2005 when he qualified for the Supreme Show and to top that he was presented with his rosette as a finalist of P.A.T. Cat of the Year at the same show.  He went on to win his Open Class that day which is a fantastic achievement for such a show.  He has been featured in OUR CATS publication often for his show results and he appeared as their P.A.T. Cat of the month this year.

Apart from Dunkan’s shows I entered him in a competition run by Cats Protection League, which was for the Rescue Cat of the Year Awards 2006.  Out of 400 entries Dunkan was short listed to 20 semi-finalists and was one out of four in his section called Hero Cat which is for a cat who makes a difference to human circumstances.  My Mother and I flew down to London, and although Dunkan did not win we had a wonderful time. Our local Radio Station heard about this award and I was asked to give a short interview about Dunkan and his work with Pets As Therapy.  Following on from this several local and national newspapers followed up with the story and pictures of Dunkan.

Dunkan and I visit each week in Whickham Villa a rehabilitation unit in the North East, and it is so wonderful to see the reaction that he receives from the clients. He now attends promotional days in the North East for the Charity and was recently in the Metro Centre at Gateshead where members of the general public were all keen to stroke and greet him. 

Dunkan has his own pyramid collecting box, which is placed in the Vets surgery where I work and a lovely lady Mrs Ashmore is still knitting catnip balls, along with the mice which I sell to raise funds for the Charity.

P.A.T. dogs and P.A.T. cats can, and do, bring comfort and companionship into the lives of people who are ill, suffering or depressed and genuinely succeed in lifting the spirits of these people, and making life better.

If you have a cat which you think would make a good P.A.T. Cat, and be able to do the special work that both P.A.T. Cats and P.A.T. dogs do, then contact the Pets As Therapy on 01844 345445 or by email to reception@petsastherapy.org.

Jackie Humble and P.A.T. Cat Dunkan